


Rivalry

by nonky



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-26
Updated: 2016-02-26
Packaged: 2018-05-23 07:01:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6108780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonky/pseuds/nonky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Kara and his only real rival are fighting, Lee sets his teeth in a bitter, biting smile and goes looking for her. It's his favourite time to reap all the benefits of her lack of belief in her own wonders.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rivalry

When Kara and his only real rival are fighting, Lee sets his teeth in a bitter, biting smile and goes looking for her. It's his favourite time to reap all the benefits of her lack of belief in her own wonders. She let him take advantage, flaunting how very well - seamlessly, as if they have been sewn together like a quilt on a bed never cold enough to need one - Starbuck and Apollo just blend together to be a duo in any airspace they can monopolize.

Their rec time took them past that other man a few extra laps of their jogs, always delighting one another and excluding him. It spilled over into CAPs, jibes and affection their own little dogfight. They could dance and flirt in plain view and hearing of everyone on the ship and it was somehow good for morale even as it kills one poor heart with cruel momentum.

It wasn't an act, and that was where all the barbs extend. Kara adored this version of Lee, the man smug in her presence. He was easy in his quiet possession of her words and deeds. He was confident in her company. He laughed loudly and she did not have to be so very Starbuck unless she felt the need to burn fiercely. They had quiet, wordless oases of unconditional love - lying in it like holding themselves to the bottom of a swimming pool and enjoying drowning together. 

No one else walked with Kara at the end of their jog, one hand hovering near as she cooled down. No one else picked her up and pinned her to the rack for pinches and playful slaps. No one else was allowed to quell her moods and ease her troubles. They have history that predates gods and creation myths. Lee saw her, not first because of Zac, but definitely before anyone else on Galactica. He has no competition to fear. 

He wondered if it stung. Lee imagined the jealousy and hurt feelings like the memory of a favourite dessert from childhood. It made the idea of sexual jealousy - envying a momentary crashing of bodies and lusts - seem quaint. 

Anyone can frak Kara. Her issues are not remotely subtle and she copes with frakking up when her suffering calls her name. He tries to be there to call her in a stronger voice, sheltering her in his arms until the worst of it hides with her other ghosts. Lee cannot be there every minute, and even when he was there were lapses. 

But there is no way to truly feel wronged when she never goes back to the same random asshole twice. They don't know how to experience Kara Thrace. She has to be discovered like a treasure at the end of a life-changing quest, then rationed day by day like consuming the last sunlight in the universe. Lee can live on a single drop for years.

Adamas are eerily susceptible to her powers. His brother glowed for her, he would die for her and Admiral William Adama lived for her. The bounds of their known universe formed her silhouette. Every song had a hidden verse about her, and every work of art a curve of her grin. Lee knew the ache of wanting her enough to feel pity. He had enough remembered heartbreak to be glad it wasn't his pain. 

Sam Anders had no clue the fight on his hands. Lee would let her go for a real love with a good man who made her happy. He would hate them all forever, but he would let go. His rival had schemed to kill Zac from a distance, comforted Kara at the funeral, and stolen her away. Kara remembered it so differently it shone like a rescue mission undertaken selflessly at a time when the Old Man could be easily excused from forgetting her existence. His loyalty to his brother demanded some punishment for their father, meted out in petty comments and being Kara's undeniable favourite.

His father didn't deserve the peace of the rain. He didn't deserve his sons, much less a stolen daughter.


End file.
